Free Creative Writing Course

I decided to have a fresh look at my website, www.stuartrivers.com, and decided that it needed a revamp. This will be a focus over the next couple of days, but I've already added a feature that will hopefully prove interesting to aspiring writers a Free* Creative Writing Course (*If you find the Creative Writing Course helpful and it spurs you on to write your Magnum Opus, please feel free to purchase a copy of my novels from either Kindle or FeedaRead.com as a token of your esteem).


The course is a set of modules I wrote when I was a member of the Rain Publishing stable of writers. The proprietress wanted to host a series of seminars online to help prospective writers and some of her authors were invited to produce a seminar on their particular area of "expertise". I was asked to write and compère the seminar Writing for Children 12 Years and Older, but, due to Rain Publishing ceasing trading, the seminars never took place.

However, the modules for my seminar have remained on my USB memory stick since then gathering the metaphorical dust. Rather than delete them, I have decided to put them online on my website, www.stuartrivers.com (Free Creative Writing Course) and, hopefully, other aspiring writers may take time to read them and gain some inspiration to write a bestseller. 

Please feel free to have a look at these modules and use them for inspiration if you can.

Feed A Read

I have discovered another route to market for my novels -  FeedARead.com is sponsored by the Arts Council of England and supported by the publishers Orion Publishing Group and Random House Group. On the Feed A Read website, an author can upload their manuscript, produce book covers and organise how the book will be distributed and sold. The service is free, but, for a fee, Feed A Read will facilitate the distribution of books through bookseller distributors:

The advantages of the BookSeller Distribution Service is that this makes your book available to order via most major booksellers, including Amazon, Book Depository, and Barnes and Noble, and many of the larger bookseller sites also enable free book delivery worldwide

For all aspiring authors, this is a valuable resource with which to get their work into print and allow the world at large to discover their stories. Also, because the author retains the copyright to their work, the manuscript can be published elsewhere such as through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing. 

Cromarty Biggs Powder Monkey
Feed A Read edition

I have now put  my completed novels through both channels and am rather pleased at the look of the book covers produced through the  Feed A Read website. Cromarty Biggs Powder Monkey is available to purchase at the time of writing and In Search of the Beast is waiting for the cover to be approved. Please take a look at the Feed A Read website and purchase a copy of my books while you're there!

Cromarty Biggs: Powder Monkey on Kindle!

There being nothing of any note on television last night, I finally got around to putting my first book as my second book on Kindle eBooks. Cromarty Biggs: Powder Monkey was first published by Rain Publishing of Ontario Canada which has since ceased trading. However, they gave me the opportunity to get my work into the public domain, so I'll always be grateful for that. With the manuscript in Word format, it just needed a little tweaking to fit in with the Kindle formatting request and hey presto, the book is now available to purchase through the internet! I couldn't use the original book cover, as it's subject to copyright (but was my idea) so my daughter has promised to produce one for me. In the meantime, please feel free to take a look at it and feedback your thoughts. Fifty Shades of Grey started as a Kindle eBook, so you never know. Oh, and if any Hollywood producers are looking (or any movie producers from any country), with modern day CGI, it would make an excellent film!

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Kindle Direct Publishing

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm not an accomplished blogger. Well, seeing as that was over a year ago, I've proved myself right. Anyway, I have just published my second book on Kindle Direct Publishing. The book is called In Search of the Beast and has been waiting a few years now to be showcased, but it is now in the public domain. I hope people will buy it and enjoy the story, and give me fresh impetus to embark on, and finish, other projects. One thing I will have to do is update my website, http://www.stuartrivers.com/ to include the new book.

Wow! Three Copies for Sale on Amazon!

Just for something to do, I searched Amazon.co.uk for Cromarty Biggs Powder Monkey and was chuffed to discover 3 copies for sale. What really blew me away were the prices being charged for a copy. Take a look yourself and you'll be amazed as well that it's being sold for over £20 with one "collectable" copy being sold for £29.95 plus p & p. I think that this shows there is a market for my work, but I'm still banging my head against that brick wall until my head, or it, breaks.

If there's anyone out there who's got contacts with literary agents or publishers, please send them my way!! I've sent sample chapters to another publisher over the pond so you never know, I might get a second bite at the cherry yet.

Image by Jerrod Maruyama via FlickrMy family and I went to the cinema to see Toy Story 3 the other day. Whilst waiting for the main feature, the trailers for forthcoming films were shown. One in particular caught our attention, because the story seemed to be very similar to In Search of the Beast which Rain Publishing were going to publish before the proprietor decided to cease trading. So much for no market for anthropomorphism!